Virgin Atlantic is to suspend its Heathrow-Shanghai route later this year, 25 years after the carrier first served the Chinese financial hub.

The airline said that increased flight times due to the inability to overfly Russia had resulted in operations becoming “increasingly costly”.

The outbound service from Heathrow is currently taking one hour longer than before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while the London-bound flight is taking two hours longer. Virgin said that this extra flying time required additional aircraft and crew time.

The final service from Heathrow to Shanghai will operate on 25 October, 2024, followed by the final Heathrow-bound flight on 26 October.

The move to suspend flights to Shanghai leaves just British Airways and China Eastern Airlines operating flights between Heathrow and the Chinese city. The latter is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, as is Virgin Atlantic.

Source: Business Traveller